Church of the Good Shepherd

12/14/2025

Join us this Christmas Eve for an evening of lessons and carols!

06/08/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #39

Epistle: Romans 4:1-8

Gospel: John 14:10-14

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on the Trinity and not falling into heresies concerning it.

We did two more questions from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: What do you understand by the providence of God?
A: Providence is
the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.

Q: How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A: We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love. All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

Lastly, we sang two hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #754 "Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending" and #757 "Soon and Very Soon"

06/03/2025

SOVEREIGN LORD,

When clouds of darkness, atheism, and
unbelief come to me,
I see thy purpose of love
in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize him more,
in chastening me for my confidence in
past successes, that my wound of secret
godlessness might be cured.
Help me to humble myself before thee
by seeing the vanity of honour
as a conceit of men’s minds,
as standing between me and thee;
by seeing that thy will must alone be done,
as much in denying as in giving
spiritual enjoyments;
by seeing that my heart is nothing but evil,
mind, mouth, life void of thee;
by seeing that sin and Satan are allowed power
in me that I might know my sin, be humbled,
and gain strength thereby;
by seeing that unbelief shuts thee from me,
so that I sense not thy majesty, power, mercy, or love.
Then possess me, for thou only art good and worthy.

Thou dost not play in convincing me of sin,
Satan did not play in tempting me to it,
I do not play when I sink in deep mire,
for sin is no game, no toy, no bauble;
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies
not so much in the nature of the sin committed,
as in the greatness of the Person sinned against.
When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me, by showing me
that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,
but that in Christ I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied;
that I am feeble and unable to do any good,
but that in him I can do all things;
that what I now have in Christ is mine in part,
but shortly I shall have it perfectly in heaven.

06/01/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #38

Epistle: Colossians 1:13-20

Gospel: John 14:7-10

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on Jesus saying anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. This is not because Jesus is the father, because he is the son, this is because Jesus is equal with the Father. Likewise,the Spirit is equal with both of them. God the Father cannot be seen because his glory is too blinding for us to look upon. Jesus is God in physical form, not less than the Father nor greater than the Spirit.

We did another question from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: What do you believe when you say, "I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth"?
A: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son.
I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.
He is able to do this because he is almighty God and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

Lastly, we sang two hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #730 "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" and #731 "Onward, Christian Soldiers"

05/25/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #37

Epistle: Romans 5:1-5

Gospel: John 14:4-6

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on that the only way to the father is to know Christ. That is the Christ of the Bible and not any Christ that has been changed to match a person's preferences. We are lost and dead in our sins and Christ is the only one who can breathe life into us. Nothing we do ourselves can save us.

We did two more questions from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: How are these articles divided?
A: Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; and God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Q: Since there is only one divine being, who do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
A: Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word: these three distinct persons are one, true eternal God.

Lastly, we sang two hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #724 "Lead On, O King Eternal" and #705 "It Is Well with My Soul"

05/11/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #36

Epistle: Galatians 5:13-18

Gospel: John 13:31-38

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on three things from this passage on the time after Judas leaves and Jesus is alone with the rest of the disciples. First, is a small taste of what heaven will be like when we will be able to listen to the truth at Jesus's feet. Second, how we are to love our neighbors, which are those directly around us. Third, is that even though Peter was about to deny Christ three times, he was still one of His own.

We did four more questions from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?
A: God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin; but a sinful human could never pay for others

Q: Why must the mediator also be true God?
A: so that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God's wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Q: Then who is this mediator---true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?
A: Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given to us to completely deliver us and make us right with God.

Q: How do you come to know this?
A: The holy gospel tells me. God began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later God proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; and finally God fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.

Lastly, we sang two hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #683 "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" and #684 "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"

05/04/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #35

Epistle: James 4:1-10

Gospel: John 13:21-30

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on Judas's betrayal. This was not something Judas was tricked into as sometimes depicted in films. Jesus did not make Judas betray him either. God allows evil to happen to show us his grace, but he does not cause evil. Jesus also understands our worries and our trials, and even takes those upon himself to relieve our daily suffering.

We did four more questions from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: According to God's righteous judgement we deserve punishment both now and in eternity: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God's favor?
A: God requires that his justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of this justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.

Q: Can we make this payment ourselves?
A: Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.

Q: Can another creature---any at all---pay this debt for us?
A: No. To begin with, God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of. Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.

Q: What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?
A: One who is a true and righteous human, yet more powerful than all the creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

Lastly, we sang two hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #686 "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" and #705 "It Is Well With My Soul"

04/27/2025

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

Psalm #34

Epistle: James 4:13-17

Gospel: John 13:16-20

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on the importance of fellowship. Christ called us to wash each other's feet which is the gathering of believers to wash away the darkness of this world by reaffirming our faith and keeping each other on the narrow path.

We did three more questions from the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in his law what we are unable to do?
A: No, God created human beings with the ability to keep the law. They, however, provoked by evil, in willful disobedience, robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.

Q: Does God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
A: Certainly not. God is terribly angry with the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, God will punish them both now and in eternity, having declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law."

Q: But isn't God also merciful?
A: God is certainly merciful, but also just God's justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty---eternal punishment of body and soul.

Lastly, we sang three hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #682 "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" and #635 "In the Garden"

04/20/2025

He is risen! I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter morning.

Here's what we did at our 10am service!

New Testament: Acts 10:34-43

Gospel: Luke 24:1-2

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on our testimony, and when Christ opens our heart to understand scripture. We see eye witness testimony in this Luke passage as we see the apostles truly understand scripture for the first time in Christ's resurrection.

Lastly, we sang three hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #365 "Alleluia! Alleluia", #367 "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today", and #359 "Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks"

04/16/2025

04/13/2025

Happy Palm Sunday, everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Here's what we did this morning at our 10am service!

The Reading: Luke 19:28-40

The Passion of Christ: Luke 23:1-49

Rev. Fredric Barrett preached on the Passion, primarily the thief on the cross who came to his senses. This goes back to guilt, grace, gratitude. Christ took this thief's hardened heart, regenerated it, and the thief repented of his sins. Rev. Barrett brought up how we see the same thing with the prodigal son when he comes to his senses and returns home.

Lastly, we sang three hymns from the Celebratory Hymnal: #300 "All Glory Laud and Honor", #302 "Lamb of God", and #330 "Are You Washed in the Blood?"

04/12/2025

Here's the playlist for the Death of Death in the Death of Christ. That's where your can listen to the episodes in order. I'll add to the list as the episode continue.

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